Palladium Books® Weekly Update – Jan. 17, 2014

By Kevin Siembieda

I hope last week’s long and comprehensive Weekly Update wasn't too much to digest. A lot has been going on and we wanted to bring everyone up to speed.

2013 Christmas Surprise Packages are over!

You love getting them. We love making them available to you. But man oh man, they are a lot of work. So glad Surprise Package season is over. We hope everyone enjoyed their Surprise Packages. I’ll include a small selection of the last of the holiday fan comments elsewhere in this Update for your enjoyment. With the holiday season and Grab Bags behind us, our focus has shifted to getting new product into your hands.

A busy week

Much of our time the past week has been divided between The Rifter® #65, Robotech® RPG Tactics™, 2014 Gen Con Indy, plotting schedules and books, assigning work, business matters, telephone conferences, and dealing with the last of the 2013 Christmas Surprise Packages. Things have been so nuts that I came in to work at 4:30 AM on Tuesday and worked till 7:00 PM. Whew. Heck, we have all been burning the midnight oil on many fronts and worked through last weekend and will be working through this one as well.

Oops, pushed too hard

I may have pushed a little too hard. I started to feel under the weather Thursday evening, and woke up Friday morning with a monstrous head cold. The worst I’ve had in years. Coughing and sneezing. My sinuses will not stop running – my nose is like a dripping faucet (I’ve gone through almost an entire box of Puff’s facial tissue in the last 24 hours!) – I feel drained and I’m told I may have a low fever. In short, feeling pretty lousy. Will try to knock off and go home around 6:00 PM today. In the meanwhile, I’m hiding out in my office, avoiding the rest of the crew as best I can, but I’m still working away to get his Weekly Update posted and take care of a few other things.

UPDATE: Fear the Reaper™ – Available now

Fear the Reaper™ continues to meet with positive responses. I can hardly wait to see what Matthew Clements comes up with next in the Dead Reign™Sourcebook: Graveyard Earth. E.M. Gist will do the new cover for it. The Dead Reign™ RPG captures the zombie experience like no other RPG. Check it out.

UPDATE: The Rifter® #65 – Ships end of January

The art is in, the editing done, and Wayne will be doing typesetting and layout over the weekend. Should ship around January 27, 2014. See the full description later in this Update. Another outstanding issue.

Rifter® Writers, Artists and G.M.s: More than half of Palladium’s regular writers and many artists started by getting work printed in The Rifter®. Quality fan and semi-professional work is always wanted. This is your chance to be published. The Rifter® is, after all, a sort of fanzine with official and unofficial source material.

Articles on gaming tips, Game Mastering, adventures and source material (new adventures, characters, villains, monsters, powers, magic, gear, and setting info) for Heroes Unlimited™, Palladium Fantasy®, Beyond the Supernatural™, Nightbane®, Splicers®, Ninjas and Superspies, After the Bomb®, Chaos Earth® and Rifts® are always in demand. Gaming material is most sought after. Short stories are less desirable and should be kept ‘short’ – 4-10 pages, but we often publish a short story in most issues. Come on, write something and send it in.

The Annual Rifter® Super-Subscription Drive – Low Price – Free Gift

The Rifter® Super-Subscription Drive starts next week. More in the next Weekly Update. Watch for it.

UPDATE: Rifts® Northern Gun™ Two

I had a great concept and art meeting with Chuck Walton on Wednesday. This is going to be an outstanding book. In fact, Chuck proclaimed that he thought Rifts® Northern Gun™ Two might be even better than Northern Gun One with its diverse range of body armor, power armor, drones, vehicles and Gladiatorial Robots. I agree. Chuck attributes this to what he calls “the Kevin Siembieda magic.” And that magic continues in Northern Gun™ Two and Megaverse® in Flames™, as well as other books yet to be announced. Of course, every book is a team effort and the “magic” they contain comes from all of the writers and artists who help to create it. I’m honored and blessed to have a cadre of wonderful staff and freelance creative minds and hands to help me weave Palladium magic.

UPDATE: Robotech® RPG Tactics™

I hope to have more to report in the next Weekly Update. As of right now, not much has changed from last week. We are deep into the engineering stage and dealing with a number of matters that inhibit us from locking down a likely release date. We don’t want to keep shifting dates. The next time we report something, we want it to be solid, so it will probably be a few weeks. You’ll know when we know. Keep the faith. Robotech® RPG Tactics™ is absolutely coming out in 2014, Kickstarter supporters will get product before retail, and this game is going to be epic fun.

Palladium is pulling out all the stops for the 2014 Gen Con Indy. We’ll have a larger exhibitor booth, special display, tons of product, many Palladium creators to sign books, and lots and lots of gaming events.

Many Palladium Books RPG events. Thank to the efforts of Palladium’s Megaversal Ambassadors and nudges from G.M. Bill Korsak, Palladium will have the MOST gaming events it has ever offered at Gen Con. This will get us a dedicated gaming location and tremendous exposure for our RPG products.

And there is still time for YOU to represent Palladium with your role-playing game event. GAME MASTERS who are attending Gen Con and plan to run one or more games in any of Palladium’s settings, make it official by contacting the Megaversal Ambassador Coordinators at ambassadors@palladiumbooks.com. Do it before February 15 to get the FULL benefit of early registration. Our thanks to the guys and gals already committed to running 45 games at Gen Con. You rock. Btw, I think 18 or 20 games were the most run at any prior Gen Con. Talk about shattering records.

We’re looking to showcase everything: Rifts®, Robotech®, Splicers®, Palladium Fantasy®, Heroes Unlimited™, Nightbane®, Dead Reign™, Beyond the Supernatural™, The Mechanoids®, Ninjas and Superspies™, After the Bomb® and all the rest.

Palladium Books Gen Con Highlights:

45+ RPG gaming events in a dedicated area. The MOST ever for Palladium at a Gen Con.

Alex will be adding some new collectibles and out of print titles over the next week or two, including a couple of rare copies of The Rifter® #4 we recently uncovered. We’ll keep adding items as supplies allow and as I scrounge items up. As usual, there are out of print titles, redlined proofreader photocopies signed by me and the staff, signed manuscripts with editors’ corrections, some original art, hardcover books (including Rifts® Northern Gun™ One) and other items you’ll enjoy. There are also hundreds of toys and action figures, all from my personal collection. All items in the store are from my own personal archives and collection. Take a look every few days as new items are added. There may be some items that are perfect for upcoming birthdays and anniversaries.

Dragons and Gods™Sneak Preview – available now on DriveThruRPG.com

A FREE Sneak Preview of Dragons and Gods™ is now available on DriveThruRPG.com. There are also previews available for Rifts® Northern Gun™ One, Rifts® Vampires Sourcebook,Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms™ (Revised Edition), Rifts® Black Market,Rifts® Lemuria, Dead Reign™ RPG, Endless Dead™ sourcebook and others. Plus we plan to add other sneak previews. The original Rifts® Vampire Kingdoms World Book is also available as a PDF on DriveThruRPG, for those of you who may be interested. More is coming.

Final words from 2013 Christmas Surprise Packages

The 2013 Christmas Surprise Package offer is at an end. Now it’s time for Palladium to focus on new products and making 2014 amazing. And that’s the plan.

I know people enjoy reading the comments from the Surprise Packages and those who make comments get a kick out of seeing them posted, so here is one last round of them. Enjoy and thank you, one and all. Happy New Year.

R.M. in Portage, Michigan, writes (in part): Guys this has been a great year with the Kickstarter and all the other things that are going on. I am sure that 2014 will be an even better one. You should know that your fans are all praying for the best success Palladium has ever had.

[Thanks, R.M. Palladium fans are the greatest, and we welcome their prayers and wishes for success. May 2014 be a healthy, happy and prosperous one for us all. - Kevin Siembieda]

N.G.J. in Jarratt, Virginia, writes: You are superb!

[Aw, shucks. Thanks. - KS]

M.D. in Eagle Mountain, Utah, Writes (in part): It’s not Christmas for me without ordering at least one Surprise Package. I was worried I’d miss out this year, so I am glad you extended this offer.

[Glad to help, M.D. - KS]

P.W. in Kirkland, Washington, writes (in part): I love to combine the multiple game systems and settings you have created into one campaign. For instance I have greatly enhanced many Rifts® organizations by creating spy agencies and agents within them using Heroes Unlimited and Ninjas and Superspies. Do you have plans to expand the Ninjas & Superspies line?

[Sounds fun, P.W., and that’s the whole idea with the Megaversal game system, to be able to bring in elements from other game settings should you want to do so. Of course, it’s okay to stay within an exclusive setting without crossover, too. As to expanding N&S, we’ve been talking about doing an updated N&S RPG and releasing a couple of new sourcebooks for a few years now, so yes, but not this year. - KS]

R.C. in Fallbrook, California, writes (in part): Going on 20 years of playing, with 17 being in the Marine Corps. Your books and gaming have kept me occupied and sane after more deployments than I care to mention. When I get out I will try to start submitting some of the content my fellow gamers and I have created. Thanks for the amazing games and keep up the good work.

[Hey R.C., many Marines, soldiers and firefighters have told us our games have helped pass the time and kept them sane. How incredible is that? Glad our games helped. And yes, submit some game material to The Rifter® for our consideration. - KS]

[Us too, J.M.H. And we will certainly put our best efforts into creating exciting and fun products all year. - KS]

C.A. in Fargo, North Dakota, writes: LOVE Palladium! Loyal fan and reader since I found the [original] Robotech® RPG and then Rifts® in the early 1990s. Keep up the good work and great books.

[Thank you, C.A. We will. - KS]

K.S. in Cadet, Missouri, writes (in part): I want to say thank you for all the years of enjoyment you guys have provided for me and all other fans of your games. I have been playing Palladium’s games for over 15 years now, since I was 12. So keep up the good work.

[Glad you enjoy our books so much, K.S. Game on! - KS]

R.B. in Dedham, Massachusetts, writes (in part): I have been playing Palladium RPGs since 1989. I have a large collection. Thank you for once again providing the Christmas Surprise Package. I truly look forward to it every year.

[Enjoy, R.B., enjoy. And thanks for the many years of support. - KS]

D.B. in Waterford, Michigan, writes: I love the worlds that you have given me over the years. My original books are dog-eared and yellowed with use, and I still flip through them on a regular basis, 20 years later. At the time I spent a month’s allowance on them and my brother laughed at me. I think that 20 years of constant use was worth every penny.

[Thanks, D.B., for your warm words of appreciation. Delighted we could bring you 20 years of enjoyment and counting. I feel the same about a number of comic book lines and games, myself. Take care. - KS]

S.F. in Louisa, Kentucky, writes (in part): This Surprise Package is a present for my husband. I have ordered him one of these every year that they have been available. Thanks so much for a terrific holiday gift for him! This is the one must purchase of the year.

[Thank you, S.F. This is exactly why we offer it every year. Enjoy and tell your husband I said to keep that imagination burning bright. - KS]

C.S. in Copperas Cove, Texas, writes: I have collected for years. Thanks for this game system and not trying to revamp it just for economics sake. I will be a loyal follower for years to come.

[Thank you, C.S. We’ll try not to disappoint. - KS]

A.K. in Richmond, California, writes: Keep rocking. Best and most solid game system ever made.

[Thanks, A.K., we like it. :) - KS]

M.M. in Seattle, Washington, writes (in part): I am slowly trying to get well-rounded in the Megaverse and Rifts Earth. I have enjoyed all the content in the various books I own.

[Nice to hear, M.M. I hope you enjoyed the items in your Grab Bag. - KS]

J.M. in Newton, Massachusetts, writes: Just got back into playing Rifts® recently, and saw a bunch of books I haven’t acquired yet. Love to add them to my collection.

[You got it, J.M. Enjoy. - KS]

J.J. in Wayne, Michigan, writes: My friends and I have been enjoying your games for decades. I hope you can revisit doing books for Palladium Fantasy® soon. And I think Robotech® RPG is fantastic. Please keep up the good work and happy holidays to everyone at Palladium Books.

D.W. in Rush, New York, writes: You guys have been keeping me in gaming for many years, and hopefully for many more to come. Looking forward to all your products and god bless, have a great holiday season.

[I hope your holidays were happy as well, J.J. and D.W. As for Palladium Fantasy® books, they will be coming. Keep those imaginations burning. - KS]

BACK IN PRINT! Heroes Unlimited™ RPG, 2nd Edition

If you love playing smart games with heroic super beings in possession of strange and wondrous powers or technology, then Heroes Unlimited™ is the role-playing game for you. This RPG has unleashed the superheroes inside gamers for three decades and counting.

Heroes Unlimited™ RPG is probably most famous for rules and abilities that enable you to play ALL types of heroes while capturing the feel of comic books, and for being a thinking-gamer’s setting. All of this adds up to super-fun and epic comic book-style adventure.

11 Archetypes or Categories of Heroes, and another dozen subcategories including Crazy Heroes, those empowered by magical artifacts, Immortals, geniuses, and heroes without any super abilities whatsoever.

100+ super abilities, plus scores of sub-powers.

100+ magic spells plus Enchanted (Magical) Weapons and Objects.

40+ Psionic abilities.

Super-Vehicles, high-tech hardware, in-depth characters and more.

Create any type of hero and superhuman – aliens and mutants to super-soldiers, martial artists, mages and Mega-Heroes.

Heroes of the Megaverse® – A sourcebook that enables you to bring your heroes and supermen (and any of the HU2 sourcebook characters, powers and material) into the Rifts® and/or Phase World®/Three Galaxies™ settings, plus new powers, heroes, superhuman creation tables, and more.

Palladium Books is 33 years old and the Heroes Unlimited™ RPG turns 30 this year. To celebrate, Palladium is releasing a special, commemorative, Gold Heroes Unlimited™ 30th Anniversary Hardcover in February, for only $40. The original HU2 hardcover sold for $50 and has since become a collector’s item that sells for $200-$350 on the secondary market.

To preserve the value of the “original” Heroes Unlimited™ Hardcover Edition, we have made the HU2 30th Anniversary Edition as visibly different (and cool) looking on the outside, as possible. The material used for the cover is different (not leatherette), the blue is a different, more vibrant shade of blue, and the cover is imprinted in gold foil but features artwork depicting a superhero and the words “Special 30th Anniversary Edition.” Even the spine is different looking and the end sheets are red and without art. The red,white and blue cover represents the United States of America, the birthplace of superhero comic books, and the colors of costumed heroes.

All the elements described above should make the Heroes Unlimited™ 30th Anniversary Hardcoverimpossible to mistake for the original HU2 signed and numbered HC edition. We have kept the price an unprecedented, low $40 for a hardcover Gold Edition of this size. We want to give Heroes Unlimited™ fans a crack at purchasing one before the price skyrockets on the secondary collectors’ market. Enjoy and game on!

Limited to 400 signed and numbered copies.

Signed and numbered on the credits page by Kevin Siembieda and the Palladium staff. We’ll try to get an artist or two to sign as well.

Blue fabric cover with gold foil imprinting. A completely new and different cover than the original HU2 Gold Edition.

Interior pages are exactly the same as the original HU2 HC and the current softcover edition.

Create any type of hero and superhuman – aliens and mutants to super-soldiers, martial artists, mages and Mega-Heroes.

100+ super abilities, plus scores of sub-powers.

100+ magic spells plus Enchanted (Magical) Weapons and Objects.

40+ Psionic abilities.

Super-Vehicles, high-tech hardware, in-depth characters and more.

Written by Kevin Siembieda. Cover art, Michael Wilson.

352 pages – ONLY $40 retail from Palladium Books only – Cat. No. 5000HC – available for pre-order – ships February. At the printer! (Pre-Orders: Though you may place a pre-order weeks before the product is actually released, your credit card is NOT charged until a week or so before the item is ready to ship.) Sorry, this product is not available in stores. Note: The prices is only $40 to celebrate the proud event of HU2's 30th Anniversary and make sure the hardcover is accessible to our core fan base. Enjoy.

A complete role-playing game with many sourcebooks.

Heroes Unlimited™ – celebrating 30 years of heroic adventure.

BACK IN PRINT – Dragons & Gods™ – for Rifts® & Palladium Fantasy® – Available now

We sold out during the Christmas season, but this fun book, suitable for use in Rifts® (complete with M.D.C. stat notes) as well as the Palladium Fantasy RPG®, is so popular that we did a full reprint of it.

This is the 3rd printing of a dynamic sourcebook filled with big ideas and insightful rules for creating gods and their followers as well as presenting an array of deities and dragons. The dragon section provides insight to how Palladium Dragons think and function. Great artwork, too. Co-written with Erick Wujcik. With the Minion War™ soon to erupt on Rifts® Earth via Megaverse® in Flames™, you may find a book about dragons and gods to be a very useful sourcebook.

This expansive sourcebook presents detailed information about the mythical dragons and gods common to the Palladium Fantasy® world, but contains notes for use in Rifts® and is easily adapted to the Rifts® setting. It includes sections about Dragonwright, the Gods of Taut, Elementals, Demon Lords, dragons, and the forces of light and dark. Suitable for use with the Palladium Fantasy RPG®, Rifts®, Heroes Unlimited™, and Beyond the Supernatural™, or any fantasy game.

BACK IN PRINT – Rifts® World Book 18: Mystic Russia™ – Available now

This book is rich in monsters and magic based on Russian mythology and superstition. Rifts Russia is a land unlike anywhere else. The wilderness abounds with mischievous spirits, shape-changers and demons unique to Russia (including a comprehensive look at Necromancy).

Official Splicers® source material by Brandon Aten and Matthew Orr. Includes three new Splicer O.C.C.s (the Gardener, the Tormentor and the Geneticist) and their Bio-Armor and Bio-Enhancments. Art by Chuck Walton.

Official Palladium Fantasy RPG® – Zodiac rules and a type of Elven magic for it, by Carl Gleba.

RECENT RELEASE: The Rifter® #64 – Available now

The Rifter® #64 is our annual horror issue and includes:

Rifts® – The Black-Malice Legacy, Part II – by Matt Olfson and Will Hunter. Source material about the Coalition States’ psionic operatives and technology, including squad formation and new psychic martial art classes for special operatives in CS Psi-Battalion.

Rifts® Short Story – A Cold Night, Dead Past by Brett Caron.

Dead Reign™ source material by Jeff Duncan. New Survivor Occupations and related skills set in the Zombie Apocalypse.

Nightbane® source material by Bryant Telfer. A new class of mystical wanderer and Nightbane.

Palladium Fantasy® Adventure by Michael Osborne. Play Giant characters or pint-sized humans who invade the lairs of Trolls and evil beings in control of dark magic.

NEW! The Rifter® #65 – End of January Release

In production, The Rifter® #65 presents a wealth of fun and dynamic material designed to give you ideas and source material for your own games.

Every issue of The Rifter® is an idea factory that helps players and Game Masters to generate new ideas and keep their games fresh. It provides useful, ready to go, source material gamers can just drop into their ongoing games. A doorway to new possibilities and numerous Palladium role-playing worlds. It offers new characters, O.C.C.s, powers, magic, weapons, adventure and ideas for your games. It presents new villains, monsters and dangers to battle, and new ideas to consider. Every issue has material for Rifts® and at least two or three other Palladium game lines.

Like knights mounted on motorcycles, the Road Reapers travel the wasteland that Earth has become, searching for survivors, fighting zombies and waging war against the Death Cults that threaten all mankind.

This epic sourcebook explores the nature of heroes and heroism in the Zombie Apocalypse. It contains the secrets of the fabled Road Reapers, their structure, leadership, missions and purpose, as well as gear and combat notes. Plus a horrifying new zombie known as the Terror Zombie, plus Floaters (zombies in water) and which zombies can swim. Survival is one thing. Can you keep your humanity and be a hero?

Comprehensive background on the legendary Road Reapers™ – zombie hunters and heroes of the Zombie Apocalypse.

NEW! Rifts® World Book 34: Northern Gun™ Two – February 2014

In production! Expanded to 192-224 pages and filled with all kinds of adventuring gear: New environmental body armor, power armor, hovercycles, robot drones, robot haulers, combat vehicles, other vehicles, robot gladiators and much more. More information about the weapons, vehicles and practices of Northern Gun, including the new rage of robot gladiatorial combat. Expanded page count. Epic adventure.

NEW! Rifts® World Book 35: Megaverse® in Flames™ – March, 2014

The Minion War spills across Rifts Earth, where demons and infernals hope to recruit allies and use the Rifts as gateways of destruction. Their influence shakes things up across the planet, especially at locations where demons and Deevils already have a strong presence. Demons, Deevils and supernatural beings run rampant and wreak havoc across the world.

Demon plagues and mystic blights.

Soulmancy and Blood Magic revealed.

Magical and demonic weapons and war machines.

Demonic armies, strongholds and places of evil.

Hell Pits and Rune Forges.

Many Demon Lords, their minions and plans.

Calgary, the Kingdom of Monsters; in detail.

Ciudad de Diablo, Harpies’ Island and other notable Hell holes on Earth.

Lord Doom, Pain and other demonic leaders.

Horune treachery, Dimension Stormers and other villains.

Notable demonic generals, mercenaries, people and places.

Battleground: Earth – as demons and infernals amass their legions.

Global chaos and the places most dramatically affected by the Demon Plagues.

Robotech® RPG Tactics™ – Game Description – Coming Spring 2014

This is the game Robotech® fans have wanted for decades.

Robotech® RPG Tactics™ is a fast-paced, tabletop combat game that captures the action and adventure of the Robotech® anime. Two or more players can engage in small squad skirmishes or scale up to massive battles. Relive the clashes of the First Robotech War, engage in stand-alone tactical games, or use the dynamic game pieces to enhance your Robotech® RPG experience. Or simply collect your favorite mecha from an expanding range of top-notch game pieces.

Mecha vs Mecha. Take command of the fighting forces of the United Earth Defense Force (UEDF) valiantly defending Earth from alien annihilation. Or lead the massive clone armies of the Zentraedi Armada to recover an alien artifact of immense power and enslave humankind.

Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Box Set

Brought to you by Palladium Books®, created with Ninja Division (the creative minds behind Soda Pop Miniatures and Cipher Studios).

Additional expansion packs to be released in waves every few months, 4-8 at a time, throughout 2014. More will follow.

Palladium plans to release the mecha and settings for ALL eras of Robotech®. Many other details are still in development.

Tournament play support is planned. Ninja Division will help Palladium to develop and launch the program.

Robotech® Macross® Saga Sourcebook – New Size

Available now – 8½ x 11 size

All the famous mecha and action of Robotech® starts here with the Macross® Saga when an alien armada enters Earth orbit. They have come to reclaim a lost spacecraft that crash-landed on Earth 10 years earlier. A space fortress that Earth’s protectors have rebuilt into their own flagship against alien invasion. The resulting conflict gives birth to heroes and becomes the stuff of legend, but the Earth will never be the same. Robotech® The Macross® Saga Sourcebook is now available as an 8½ x 11 inch sourcebook.

Note: This is the setting for Robotech® RPG Tactics™, so if you’re looking for more information about the mecha, Earth’s defenders, the Zentraedi invaders, and Macross Saga setting, this is the book for you. Epic adventure awaits.

A Robotech® Role-Playing Game Sourcebook:

Transformable Veritech Fighters known as Valkyries take to the sky to defend the Earth.

PDF downloads from DriveThruRPG.com

This is a great resource for getting out of print Palladium titles and other select books. We’ve made 90 titles available as PDF digital downloads from DriveThruRPG.com. This is a great way to try Palladium products and get access to out of print RPG source material. Some notable titles include: